Personal care compositions containing cationic polymers have been found to deliver rheology, thickening, lather richness and conditioning benefits to hair and skin substrates. Cationic polymers also improve deposition of other active benefiting agents such as silicone and silicone derivatives, anti-dandruff agents, color, moisturizing agents, emollients. The cationic polymers can be based on polysaccharide backbones or on synthetic polymer backbones or mixture thereof.
Cationic polysaccharides and other polymers have been used widely in personal care, household, industrial, and institutional products to perform various benefiting agent functions in the final product, ranging from the use of the polymer as gellants, binders, thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers, spreading, lathering and deposition aids. Cationic polysaccharides and other polymers also function as carriers for enhancing the conditioning, anti-microbial activities, lubrication, rheology, efficacy, deposition, moisturizing, color, lather, emolliency, aesthetics as well as for the delivery of chemically and physiologically active ingredients in personal care, household, institutional and industrial compositions. Depending on the application, substrates to which the personal care, household, industrial, and institutional product is applied can be skin, hair, or textile substrates.
Cationic polymers have been used in hair care products to provide conditioning, moisturizing, anti-static, deposition of color, other conditioning and non-conditioning agents, deposition of fragrance to the hair. In addition, in hair care products they provide for deposition of anti dandruff/antimicrobial agent to hair and scalp. In skin care products, these same polymers can provide conditioning effects to the skin. In addition, they provide moisturizing, lubrication, deposition of color, other conditioning and non-conditioning agents, deposition of fragrance, and deposition of anti dandruff/antimicrobial agent. When incorporated into detergent and/or fabric softening formulations, these same polymers can provide conditioning, softening, anti-abrasion and antistatic characteristics to fabrics.
Wet and dry compatibility measurements are typical test methods used to measure conditioning performance of polymers in shampoo and conditioner applications. These values are also frequently used to reflect conditioning benefits to skin since it is much easier make such measurements. Commercial cationic conditioning polymers in shampoo formulations have been reported to reduce the wet combing force experienced on combing wet hair by 5%-99%, relative to the shampoo containing no polymer. The performance of different cationic polymers in these applications varies. However, typically it is desirable that shampoos contain cationic polymers to achieve a good balance of wet and dry combing force reduction, with good optical clarity in a formulation.
For example, cationic galactomannan polymers, such as cationic guar, and other polymers originating from seeds or other natural origins, contain insoluble components which can include protein components, which may interact with surfactants in the formulation, leading to unstable and opaque formulations. Since the conditioning performance of the polymer is strongly related to its solubility in and interactions with the surfactants in the formulation, it is desirable to improve the solubility of the conditioning polymer in the surfactant system which in effect improves the clarity of the surfactant-based formulation.
EP1501873 A1 addresses the need for a cationic galactomannan polymer with good optical clarity in personal care, household, and fabric cleansing formulations.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,689 discloses an amphoteric guar composition for treating keratin substances.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,756,720 describes a process for producing a polygalactomannan composition having nonionic and cationic groups attached to the backbone to achieve high optical clarity in cleansing surfactant formulations.
WO99/36054 describes hydroxypropyl modified cationic polygalactomannans, which have been found lacking in conditioning performance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,259 describes shampoo compositions containing cationic polymers and improvements in shampoo performance by addition of phosphoric acid ester surfactants to the shampoo composition. This patent does not discuss shampoo compositions with combined improved deposition of benefit agents and enhanced clarity in the formulation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,494 describes shampoo compositions containing cationic polygalactomannan gums and anionic additives to improve deposition onto hair from the shampoo. This patent does not discuss surfactant compositions with improved clarity in the formulation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,674 describes a process for preparing polygalactomannan gums using an aqueous alcohol slurry process, the resulting product giving 85-100% transmittance at wavelengths between 500-600 nm at 0.5 parts polymer in 100 parts of an aqueous solution. The use of this material in personal care applications is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,825 discusses a process for producing a derivatized guar gum composition that demonstrates greater than 75% light transmission at a wavelength from about 500-600 nanometers when dispersed in water in the amount of about 0.5 parts per 100 parts water and use of this composition in personal care compositions.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,067,499 discloses a composition comprising at least one cationic polygalactomannan having a lower limit mean average MW of 5,000 and an upper limit MW of 200,000, having a light transmittance in aqueous solution at 10 wt % polymer concentration of at least 80% at a wavelength of 600 nm, and a protein content less than 1% based on polysaccharide content, and an aldehyde content of at least 0.01 meq/g, where optical clarity is achieved through the use of a filtration process or other processes.
Cationic polysaccharides based on cellulosic backbones, such as UCare Polymer JR400 having a high cationic substitution, are known to give good clarity in a broad range of surfactant systems. However, these polymers have also been cited by the manufacturer as giving “buildup” problems on the hair after repeated use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,722 describes the use of surfactants in polysaccharide processing for producing water-soluble or water-swellable polysaccharide derivatives having a high degree of substitution (DS), from 0.05-2.5 DS, comprising suspending the polysaccharide in an organic solvent, immiscible with the aqueous derivatizing reagent phase, in the presence of cationic, anionic, or nonionic surfactants. This patent does not discuss processing in aqueous processes or improved clarity of the resulting products in surfactant-based systems.
Consequently, there still exists a need in the marketplace for personal care and household care formulations with enhanced conditioning performance, including silky feel to the substrate, such as hair, skin, or textile fabric, enhanced deposition of active materials and conditioning agents, and improved clarity and improved aesthetics, such as shampoo clarity, and essentially no buildup of polymer or conditioning components after repeated use without the need for removal of insoluble material from the polysaccharide or the use of solvents to clarify the product. Also, the need exists for a process to produce these polysaccharides in an aqueous-based process rather than a solvent containing process.